~ ~~ An action of Occupy Wall Street

Monthly Archives: July 2012

So what’s up Occupy?

Occupy Trinity is branching out. That’s what’s up. A few of us, started a small Occupation in front of a Citibank branch, and then just last night, another group started Occupying in front of an HSBC. It’s not ending there either as we will continue to branch out, and will expand to other banks, as well as to other target corporation. IE: Starbucks, Mcdonald’s, Whole Foods, and any other corporation that is valuing their profits over the people that support them.

So this is a call to action for all Occupations and Occupiers to take this model and run wild with it letting it spread like wild fire. We are going to aim to have around 10 Occupiers per location, but feel free to have as many as you’d like. Just get out and start occupying your target locations.

In other news from Occupy Trinitywallst the police stole a blue fold up chair last night, I mean, really? A chair, is that their tactics now? What is that designed to make us tired? Well whatever their hopes,

HASHTAG!!!!!WINNING!!!!

Be sure to check out and add us on Facebook and Twitter!#trinitysleeps #occupytrinity #occupyeverywhere

I have a lot to write about but very little time. I missed the last few days blogging because the NYPD stole all my property, including my net book. They also stole ALL the medical supplies I had accumulated for our medical station. As well, I was handcuffed without being told why, separated from the rest of the Occupiers and held for 15-20 minutes before being issued a summons for ” street storage of movable property”. This happened because I was videotaping the White Shirts as they were harassing me. Captain Winski (sp?) told us that if I did not stop video taping him he would evict us from the sidewalk. He could not do that so he attacked our property. The People’s Library, the Kitchen and the Medical Station were all confiscated or trashed. Personal property of several Occupiers was confiscated or trashed. If property was claimed it was confiscated and the owner given a summons for violating a motor vehicle ordinance — 16-122b. If the property went unclaimed, it was trashed.

Much more has happened, but I am borrowing an e-tablet and do not have much time. Trinity Wall Street Church needs to start acting like a church. We are giving them a wonderful opportunity to redeem themselves of 300+ years of duplicity, thievery and greed. They now have the opportunity to renounce their corporate ways and clothe themselves in the vestments of true Christianity. They now have the opportunity to use their vast fortune to truly do good works, and not just token incidentals.

Love.

Trinity! Where’s the Love?

People over profits. Love, compassion and cooperation instead of apathy, pretense and competition. Join us, Trinity. Drop the “Wall Street” from your name and stand beside Occupy Wall Street. Let us both stroll fearlessly down the shadowy valley that is Wall Street, and together let us change the world through love.

Yesterday we kept signs out telling the public that the Occupiers here were sleeping because the NYPD attacked and harassed us all night long. Perhaps it shamed the NYPD. Perhaps the NYPD were quiet because of the Guardian article that came out yesterday that described them as “an out-of-control and aggressive organization that routinely acted beyond its powers.” Well, duh! Or maybe it was the Times article which said they “obstructed news reporters and legal observers, conducted frequent surveillance, wrongly limited public gatherings and enforced arbitrary rules . . .hundreds of instances of . . . excessive force and other forms of police misconduct ” No surprises there! But then maybe it was the Gothamist article wherein are detailed “130 specific alleged incidents of excessive police force, and hundreds of additional violations, including unjustified arrests, abuse of journalists, unlawful closure of sidewalks and parks to protesters, and pervasive surveillance of peaceful activists.”

But no, I am sure the vast majority of the NYPD have no inkling of those articles. Reading seems beyond many of them. Their special dislike of The People’s Free Library alerts me to their inability to comprehend what they read. No, they were quiet yesterday and today because we are still here. Brrrp!!!

We are winning! We need solidarity support during the daytime hours. The nighttime is full, but the daytime numbers sometimes shrink to dangerous lows. The NYPD has taken to attacking when our numbers get low in the daytime. Ever since the NYPD were humiliated in front of the public at Union Square during a daytime raid they have been waiting for midnight to play. But since we had the numbers at midnight, they tried the daytime again in hopes that a small number of Occupiers can be dealt with quickly before too many of the public see what’s going on. So we need more during the day so they can’t sweep through us quickly. Where’s the United Nations when you need them? I’d love to see a white APC with baby blue lettering roll up Broadway and park in front of Wall Street!

Wall Street is full of crooks, and the NYPD is full of terrorists. Somebody please go after these bad guys!

Back to reality. What do you do after you grab the bull by the horns? You don’t let go! The interactions with the NYPD are inevitable, but we need to remember that the cat-and-mouse games they play with us, while fun, are not what we came here for. So, have fun with the police, but remember — this is Occupy Wall Street, not Occupy NYPD or Occupy New York, or even Occupy Manhattan. Occupy Trinity Wall Street Church is an action specifically against Trinity Wall Street Church, the corporation at the head of Wall Street, both physically and spiritually. The God Mammon rules here, but a ragtag bunch of Occupiers will throw down those false idols, and replace the greed with compassion.

I wonder why the Christians within Trinity Wall Street Church do not come out and help us? To them I remind . . .

“And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.'” (New Living Translation, 2007, Matthew 25:45)

The help we need is not because we are homeless and persecuted, but because we are protesters. We don’t need food or comfort, we have those in abundance. Help us depose James Cooper, and make your church a philanthropic force for good, as it should be. Occupy is about People, not Profits. Shouldn’t a Christian church also be about People, not Profits? Do you really want Trinity to remain the House of the False Profit? Join us, fire James Cooper, and then start practicing what is preached within those walls.

This will be shorter than it should be because the NYPD has started a new push to get us off the sidewalk. The problem is they can’t remove us – legally. They can, of course, remove us illegally. We will see what they do.

We were told that Trinity Wall Street Church asked the NYPD to remove us — that info came from the cops. We will go when CEO Cooper is gone and this church starts accepting its responsibility to the people and acts like a church. Until then, we occupy.

The NYPD has been aggressively harassing us since yesterday afternoon. They only stop long enough for us to calm down, and when the spot is quiet again they come back and stir things up. They have been confiscating private property (as “found property”) and OWS property (as “trash”), such as the People’s Library, Kitchen and Medical. They put the kabosh, for a while, on cardboard. Last night they took from me a sleeping bag (#9), a first-aid kit (#8), and a bag of miscellaneous medical supplies such as gauze pads, sunscreen, insect repellent, adhesive bandages, and my OWS Street Medic signage. But that’s all stuff, and doesn’t hurt me, it strengthens my resolve. Other people had personal property taken away as well.

The interuptions of sleep and imposed high-stress level is detrimental to our physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual health. After 8 months of this kind of treatment in various places around New York City I can say unequivocally that the greatest health and safety hazard to the Occupiers is the New York Police Department. If this was Guantanamo Bay it would be considered long-term low-level torture. Bad cop, no donut!

Photos and video soon — when it is safer for a medic to be away from his charges.

Surprise, surprise! The NYPD lied about power-washing ‘our’ sidewalk yesterday. This was the same White Shirt who professed to be offended the other day when I mentioned that the NYPD has not been honest with us. No matter, the rain necessitated the move anyway, and the coming thunderstorm today means most of us will stay under the scaffolding all day.

Mark Adams visited us last night! He is still weak from his hunger strike, but was very happy visiting all of us here. I have invited him to be an author on this site, and he will soon have his own posts appearing here.

Many faces are stopping by our action — some new, but many are past Occupiers of the Park. Spread the word, yo — and remember to tell them this is an action not an open encampment. Yes, we have a branch of the People’s Free Library, yes, we have a Kitchen, yes, we have Medical, yes, we have Comfort/Mutual Aid, yes, we have Security –and that’s because we are using the occupy tactic in this particular battle of the revolution. We occupy public space as a tactic to force a change to happen. In this case, unlike Zuccotti Park, we have a single, finite objective which everyone here is working toward. We love having Occupiers visit us, but we are not a squat or party spot. Party and sleep somewhere else. This is a battleground, and part of our offense is maintaining a clean and orderly occupied territory. Come over and help us work, but please do not come to disrupt the battle by partying or taking workers’ sleeping spots or trashing the kitchen or begging for money or interacting badly with the public & police.

While I am on the soapbox, I’d like to remind everyone that Occupy Wall Street has founding documents. We protest that our constitutional rights are being violated, yet we violate our own founding documents time and again. The debate on value-based General Assemblies has not taken into consideration that our values have already been defined in our founding documents. The Declaration, the Principles of Solidarity, and the Statement of Autonomy have more power in them than the U.S. Declaration & U.S. Constitution. Read them. Discuss them. All Occupiers should be conversant with these documents. It is our identity.
Remember also, that if any form of modification to the General Assembly results in a non-transparent or non-participatory or non-democracy then those people have effectively removed themselves from the Occupy Movement and are using our name wrongly. The same goes for these so-called working groups popping up. Just because they throw the word “occupy” around does not mean they are Occupy. Just because they were once in the Park does not mean the racket they are running now is Occupy. Just because they sometimes sleep and eat with us as we occupy does not mean they are Occupiers.

Occupiers don’t run when their comrades are manhandled by the NYPD, as happened today to me. Today, on my way back to the action after writing the above paragraphs, I found the People’s Free Library and the Medical area ransacked and overrun with Police. The Kitchen was nowhere to be found (we feed more people than Trinity Wall Street). Immediately I began protesting the unlawful actions being undertaken by the NYPD. As I did I saw many of the people who had stayed with us last night run away without a backward glance. I was quickly surrounded by Police, grabbed by a White Shirt who demanded I come with him but would not answer my question: “Am I being detained or arrested?” When I did not get an answer I told him it was my right to leave, and I was going to exercise that right. At that point the Blue Shirts surrounding me closed in and forced me up against the framework of the scaffolding and handcuffed me against my will. During the brief struggle I looked for Occupier help, and though three Occupiers did indeed engage the Police, they were without support. The Police had waited until our core numbers were down before they moved in on us.

The NYPD, led here by Captain Papamichael (aka “Little Lombardo”), issued me a summons, a 16-122B violation, street storage of movable property. It’s a strange society where The People’s free Library is destroyed by Police citing an abandoned motor vehicle ordnance. Yes, you read right — they are so desperate to move us off the sidewalk, out of occupied territory, that they have resorted to abandoned vehicle laws. We are breaking no laws, yet the NYPD continues to harass, abuse and persecute us. The United Nations ordered Barack Obama to protect Occupy Wall Street from the New York Police Department . . . and Obama has remained silent as he disobeys the United Nations directive.

The United Nations will have to send their peacekeepers to Wall Street to stop the police state from further abusing us. Even though the Blue Shirts tell us they don’t agree with their bosses, the White Shirts, and even though when the bosses are gone the Blue Shirts laugh and joke with us, when the order comes down to “git’em out of there” they shut up, obey the unlawful orders, and lay hands (and worse) on our communal & personal property and our bodies. One of these days they will kill some of us. We are non-violent. We have proved we are non-violent through ten (10) months of being chased, harassed and beaten by the NYPD. The NYPD has proved over and over they are violent without cause. I would rather the public rise up and protect us, but I personally will applaud the Blue Helmets if they come.

It is important to know who you are as a group. We have spent 8 months exiled from Liberty Plaza. We have been chased, harassed and abused through the streets of New York City for this entire time. Through that hardship we have come to know who we are. We are Occupy Wall Street. We are fearless. We have a job to do. We have to change the world . . . now.

Tired. Pulled an all-night watch because of security and medical issues. A couple are suspected of going through our personal properties while we slept. The night was mostly quiet . . . except for an incident where the misogynistic, disrespectful and threatening behavior of one of the vendors under the Red Cube toward “Books” necessitated a group discussion, decision-making and action.

The NYPD couldn’t leave their post guarding an empty Wall Street, so we took matters into our own hands and confronted the cad, and gave him fair warning. We also will accompany any of our women past his kiosk if they want.

Trinity’s sprinklers woke us up at 3 AM. At 8 AM NYPD told us Sanitation would power-wash the sidewalk again . . . so we moved under the scaffolding directly in front of the church. That was where we were going anyway, because there is a thunderstorm expected. Ah! The clouds will be dancing!

We could use donations of ice packs, ace bandages of all sizes, and self-adhesive wrap for Medical. I have also run out of Co-Q-10, without which I quickly run down because of my heart problem. I’m a bit tired now, falling asleep at the keyboard. Seeya tomorrow.

An orderly, if uneasy, unspoken truce with the NYPD is being maintained. Captain Lombardo came reconnoitering this morning, but at a decent hour, and made his presence known with his “commandant inspection walk” up and down the line. He called one of the younger women Occupiers over for a chat, and she later told us that he is always calling her over whenever and wherever he sees her. Things that make you go hmm! Lombardo, behave yourself.

We hear through the grapevine that Trinity Wall Street Church/Real Estate Corporation is rapidly losing support in the financial and religious circles they run in. We are winning, and more evidence is the duplicitous machinations of some working for the church to spread rumors amongst us. Things that make you go hmm! Trinity, practice what you preach!

Two rumors circulated recently, that one of us had made an agreement for the group to leave, and that the NYPD would raid and evict us. The focus of these rumors shows that those wanting us to stop the protest action do not understand us. One of us cannot make an agreement for the group, and we are not afraid of a raid. Things that make you go hmm!. Trinity, do your homework!

The Pirate Robert Edwards is buried on the other side of the fence from where we usually occupy public space. From the grave he lays claim to all of Wall Street, Trinity Wall Street Church and the stretch of land from the church all the way to, and including, the World Trade Center. It seems his son gave the Church a 99-year lease to the land but Trinity Wall Street never gave the land back. It also seems that Trinity Wall Street’s claim of a land grant from the Queen first materialized in 1955. Things that make you go hmm! Avast, ye scoundrels!

We continue to expand our public outreach, engaging passers-by — many of whom are glad to see us and eager to talk. Tourists from around the world stop for photographs within our Occupied Public Space, holding our signs and smiling widely. New Yorkers give a high five or fist-pound as they hurry by, shouting out encouragement and support. Things that make you go hmm! Aye matey, we be gathering!

Yesterday we had a drummer who drummed and led a spontaneous march on Wall Street — and didn’t get arrested! We also received a donation of a bicycle, established the Trinity Branch of the People’s Library, got 24/7 access to a SmartPhone for Livestreaming (coming soon) and enjoyed some fine guitar folk music graced to us by an Occupier who spent the evening with us. The NYPD was mostly respectful and restrained throughout the night, only intervening to protect us from the intoxicated disorder of longtime troublemakers. They did not harass us about our cardboard or signs, which were both very much in evidence along with chairs and a full (dumpstered & donated) Kitchen. The message we are sending is clear — if you want to cause trouble and hurt the Movement, you are on your own against the NYPD. If you come here to help us by working in this OWS action you have complete solidarity from us, and we will defend you from all enemies.

This morning a postal woman came up, asked one of us if she was ‘Occupy Wall Street’, she replied that she was, and the postal woman gave her an envelope from our comrades in Spain. We have mail! It was addressed to “Occupy Wall Street, One Liberty Plaza, Zuccotti Park, New York, Estados Unidos”. Our home is Zuccotti Park — even the Post Office knows that, when will we go home?

“Books”, our librarian, has documented the envelope, and we will pass it on to the environmental working groups. It is a CD with all the necessary components of a teach-in or rally on the subject of the methane release in East Siberian Shelf. It is one of the many ecological tipping points we are rapidly reaching that will change the life of this Earth for a very long time.

There was a wedding and a funeral scheduled at Trinity Wall Street Church today, and we were woken up and informed by two White Shirts (Captain Lombardo being one) and several Blue Shirts accompanied by a Trinity executive, the Downtown Alliance and the NY Dept. of Sanitation. They didn’t need the overwhelming force, and we disarmed them immediately by agreeing that we needed to move in respect for the families coming here today. We moved and cleaned without their help, and set up again on the long sidewalk along the west graveyard — where we always are when it isn’t precipitating. The day has gone without incident except for some ongoing Medical issues.

The rain often brings an uneasy and intermittent truce, and this time is one of them. Although we still have low-level rufflings with the NYPD, the problem of shelter and undesirable hangers-on are more acute problems.

The scaffolding in front of Trinity Wall Street Church is adequate for a light rain, but the torrential downpours we have been getting leave everything wet — as the scaffolding has many leaks. The NYPD prevent us from erecting any kind of shelter from the weather, and so we bravely occupy together with willful determination as our only comfort. It is also unseasonably cold, and we are not equipped for cold weather.

Undesirable people have also started to congregate around us. We know many of them. They have been causing trouble around us for many months. Their actions are the ones the press picks up upon, and then sensationalizes while blaming and denigrating Occupy Wall Street. Their actions are the ones that cause passers-by to look upon us with disgust and loathing. Their actions are the ones that cause the NYPD to react so violently to our Movement — and the kicker is that the NYPD has sent many of these agitators, provocateurs and saboteurs into our midst themselves.

We have decided that we cannot stand idly by while these people destroy everything we are attempting to do. We do not fear the NYPD or Homeland Security or the Secret Service — and we do not fear street criminals either. This action at Trinity Wall Street Church is not an open encampment. It is an action of Occupy Wall Street, and only people working toward the goals of this action are welcome. As fiercely as we defend our rights from the assaults of the NYPD we will defend our rights from the depredations of street criminals.

Yesterday the NYPD brought in the power washers, and threatened to power-wash us off the sidewalk every day. Then Brian, the Homelessness Director of Trinity Wall Street Church, tried a psychological war tactic on us by spreading fear and rumors of an imminent eviction, but only among select Occupiers. I confronted him with a couple questions later during our General Assembly, and either he lied or I have to believe Occupiers lied about what he told them. But from their affect and behavior I believe the Occupiers.

Last night Trinity Wall Street Church turned the sprinklers on us in the early morning night-time. Today Mother Earth is sending rain, so we are under the scaffolding at the front of the church. Instead of a power-wash, the NYPD went on the warpath against cardboard and protest signs. This time, for the first time, they included my medical signs among the protest signs. While we removed extra signs, and cleaned up the cardboard, it was more to stop them from aggressively invading our space than anything else. The signs were back up in about a half hour or so . . just like always. There is an ebb and flow of the signs here — the morning sees White Shirts making us remove them, and as the day progresses we gradually put them all back out again, and more.

During the morning harassment, which saw the Downtown Alliance and Trinity Security (Securitas) guarding the flanks while the NYPD held down the center, we taught them the sidewalk laws, took video of the exchanges, took photos of every person arrayed against us, and demanded to see Community Affairs and the superiors of the officers present. The Blue Shirts sent for the White Shirts after we explained to the sergeant that since he was only following orders it was useless for us to discuss the situation with him — we needed to talk to his boss. The White Shirts came and got an earful from many of the Occupiers, and then sent for their superiors — a couple of unidentified Detectives. The Detectives hemmed and hawed, and refused to take responsibility for any action against us . . . and they all walked away defeated, leaving one Police Officer to pace back and forth behind us.

Donations Gratefully Accepted!

We desperately need monetary donations for food, clothing, medical and informational supplies. The NYPD keeps stealing our property and trying to torture us with lack of sleep, stress and daily-all-day-all-night harassment. Please go to our WePay page to donate and help us change the world for the better.